Nashville police union calls Amazon incentives 'handouts'

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nashville's police union is blasting the city's plans to award up to $15 million in incentives for Amazon's new facility, calling them "corporate welfare" and "handouts."

A Nashville Fraternal Order of Police news release this week called for support of a resolution to block Amazon's incentives until city employees receive cost-of-living adjustments.

Nashville has proposed up to a $15 million cash grant based on each job Amazon creates within the next seven years.

Amazon has said its total incentive package in Nashville includes up to $102 million in performance-based incentives based on creating 5,000 jobs over the seven-year timeframe with an average wage exceeding $150,000.

Briley and Gov. Bill Haslam contend that Nashville and the state are getting great deals that will quickly pay themselves off.